Cardenas: CPAC Brings Optimistic Message From GOP

The Conservative Political Action Conference is bringing an optimistic message from the GOP heading into the 2014 midterm elections, the organization's chief, Al Cardenas, said Friday.

"No one in America wants to follow an angry mob," Cardenas told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "People in this country want to be inspired. They want an optimistic message. They want a clear vision for the future."

Cardenas is director of the American Conservative Union that organizes CPAC, now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The annual conservative rally on Thursday featured speeches by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

There was much for the GOP to gain by "engaging in a positive manner," Cardenas said.

For those who might have lost hope in the direction of the country, he said three days at the conference would turn that around.

"If you're here, and if you had doubts, and if you lost hope, you come to this conference for three days, and you leave energized. You leave full of solutions, with more tools for your toolbox to talk to your fellow citizens," he said.

Cardenas said CPAC did not set out to have a "rigid credo" or dally in propaganda. He said he believed in the "intellectual stimulation of different thoughts," and that holding to beliefs was the way to sway people to the GOP.

"We believe that if you have the courage of your convictions, that's how you're going to be persuasive. And, we also believe in the conversion business, rather than the rejection business," he said.